A New Outlook
by Deepfreeze222
Summary: Thunder Clap is visiting his oldest friend, Rainbow Dash, for his birthday since she couldn't visit him in Cloudsdale. He arrives, yet notices she is acting a little differently. He makes it his job to find out why. Anthro
1. Chapter 1

**Here is "A New Outlook". This story takes place in the same universe as two of my other stories. Whether you have read them or not is irrelevent and is not necessary. At best, they will be contextual to this story, giving it some perspective. But besides that, sit back, relax, and enjoy the story. If you have a comment, be it negative or positive (or neutral) you may put it in a review if you want. It doesn't matter to me. I will be doing this story at my own pace and to help me I will be keeping a very strict timeline. It will also, most likely, happen quickly. This WILL NOT be a my usual 50,000-60,000 word story. Maybe twenty. Since I like to get this out of the way early, Rainbow is 29 and Thunder Clap is 30. The characters are anthro, which means the top half is completely human (except for wings and horns) and the bottom half (below the waist) is more horsish i.e. horse legs and tail. They are about the same height, with Thunder Clap being an inch or two taller. I'm also looking for a beta reader since I just can't seem to get my crap straight for the punctuation. No one's complained about it in a long time, but it's still average at best (to me). I also just want some consistent feedback on my stories. Also, I WILL be keeping this one teen. For sure. Enjoy.**

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**May 2nd (Wednesday)**

"Rainbow, where are you?" I asked myself as I flew over Ponyville. I was getting fed up with looking for her. She had told me in her letter that she would be waiting at the train station for me, but I got there hours ago. Well, maybe not hours. More like twenty minutes; but it felt like hours!

I kept scanning the ground for her unique mane, but I was losing hope fast. I had been searching for what felt like forever. And I was pretty fast.

I stopped and hovered. "Fine Rainbow. Have it your way. I'll just come back in six months." I said to myself. I was tired of looking and I was tired of waiting. I had stuff that I could be doing.

I turned and took off towards the train station to see when the next train back to cloudsdale would be.

As I was flying, something shot past me overhead.

"I recognize that flight-trail." I put on the speed and burst after it.

I started gaining on it and flew up next to it, just barely having my wing miss the other pegasi's.

"Rainbow!" I yelled to get her attention.

She looked over at me and grinned, then shot forward.

"Fine, have it your way." I put on even more speed, quickly gaining on her. When she saw me catch up she sped up once more. I responded with more speed of my own.

If she wanted a game of follow, I would happily oblige.

Suddenly she turned right, across my flight path, making me have to bob above her trail. I quickly veered towards her and resumed flying beside her.

"Rainbow!" I called. She looked over with that same devilish grin she always had. I pointed towards the ground since the wind was whipping my voice away.

In response, she took off. She poured on speed I didn't even know she had. However, I was pretty fast myself and raced after her.

She zig-zagged through the sky with me hot on her trail. Eventually, she rocketed into a cluster of clouds. I flew up high above it to wait for her to shoot out of it. After a few seconds, I knew that she wasn't going to.

I flew down into the cloud cluster and started listening for her wingbeats. Too late, I heard them flapping quickly behind me. Before I could turn to face her, she slammed into me and clamped her arms around my wings and my own arms, causing us to tumble. All the while, I could hear her hysterical laughter.

We fell down and smashed into a cloud, causing a rather large dent in it.

I felt her let go of me and flop down next to me on my right. I whipped my face out of the cloud, a little angry at her.

She took one look at me and started laughing even harder. I brought my hand up and felt that a bunch of cloud had covered my mane and turned it into its own creation.

I couldn't help laughing alongside her.

After we calmed down enough to catch our breaths, I took her in.

She still had that same rainbow mane and sky blue skin. They were beautiful compared to my unexciting rust colored mane and white skin.

She was wearing her deep blue jumper which exposed her muscle shirt underneath. She was also wearing her usual deep blue high waters. She hadn't changed a bit in the last six months since I had seen her. These weren't much different then my clothes, but instead of a muscle shirt, I had on an orange T.

"Forget I was coming today?" I asked her with a smile on my face.

"Nah, I just wanted to make you work for it." She answered.

"It's my birthday!" I complained to her.

"What of it?" She asked with a stoneface.

"It's the whole reason I'm here. You couldn't come to cloudsdale this year so I came here." I told her. I knew she already knew, but I also knew that she reveled in the fact that I would come this far to spend MY birthday with HER.

I glared at her.

"Alright fine!" She threw her hands up in defeat. "Happy birthday." She whispered.

"Thank you." I told her, a little sarcastically.

"So what do you want to do?" She asked me.

"Well, try to avoid Pinkie for one. I don't want a repeat of last year." I shivered. Last year had not ended well. Rainbow had taken her friend Pinkie with her to help plan my party last year. Let's just say she found a way to get three hundred pigs into the city and they...got loose. How? I don't know. And I never want to.

"Have it your way, but Pinkie always plans the best parties. You can't say that last year wasn't at least interesting." She said.

"I'll give you that, but I don't want it happening AGAIN. I still have nightmares." I shivered again.

She just laughed and slapped my arm playfully.

"Since you're here, why don't you come meet the rest of my friends? Fluttershy isn't feeling so hot right now, a little trouble in the everfree a few months ago, but everypony else should be up to it. Come on, they're all awesome. You know, in there own right."

Nice save. Always have to keep up the awesomest around shtick.

"Nah, I'm good. Right now, I just want to go to bed. That train ride sucked." I told her. I could see the sun already starting to set. That's what I got for taking the four o'clock train instead of the eight.

"Really? The great and powerful Thunder clap..." She started in a fake manly voice. "Is tired?" She ended it with her own voice and asked the question seriously.

"Yes, the great and powerful Thunder clap is very tired." I answered, starting to get annoyed. She should know by now that I get cranky when I'm tired. We've known each other for almost two decades now.

"Fine. You've got the angry look in your eyes. Follow me." There it is.

She stood up and took off. I stood up as well and took off after her. We flew for a few minutes toward the outskirts of town.

We soon came upon a large floating castle with a rainbow water fall coming out of it. I had seen her home a lot since she moved to ponyville, but it still amazed me whenever I saw it.

She flew over to it and landed on the landing pad in front of the door.

I set down right next to her.

It was at this moment that she noticed I didn't have any bags.

"Where is all your stuff?" She asked.

"I'm not staying long. I'm leaving tomorrow night. I didn't think you'd want me around long." I answered.

Last time I had visited, six months ago, I had visited for her birthday and stayed a week. She seemed ready to snap at me at any moment and I wasn't going to risk my life over a silly little courtship if she wanted me to leave.

She frowned. "Alright." She opened the door and stepped inside with me right behind her.

"Same room?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Well, I'm gonna hit it early then. Like I said, I'm pretty sore, and the little workout we had didn't help." I told her.

I made me my way towards her guest bedroom.

"Night." I heard her call from her living room. She sounded a little sad, but I didn't notice anything too out of the ordinary. If it was bad, we could talk in the morning. I may have loved her like a sister, but nothing beats sleep.

"Good night." I called back.

I opened the door and went over to the bed. I collapsed on it, my face falling into the soft pillow. I hadn't realized I was THAT tired.

"Are you okay?" I heard somepony asked behind me a few seconds later.

I looked behind me to see Rainbow in the doorway with a concerned look on her face.

"Yeah. Just tired." I turned my head back into the pillow.

"Do you want anything?" Why was she being so motherly? Maybe something was really wrong.

I turned my head back towards her. "Are _you_ okay?" I asked her.

She looked surprised. "Yeah... yah I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be? Anyways, get some sleep. I'm going to push you hard tomorrow." She said with fake excitement. She closed the door behind her.

Oh Rainbow, we've known each other for forever. You can't hide anything from me. I'll get to the bottom of it if it's the last thing I do. However, the first shall be sleep. For the final time, I smashed my face into the pillow and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**May 3rd (Wednesday)**

I woke up to find my wings ruffled and in need of some serious grooming, but that could wait. I was hungry.

I got out of the bed and smelled myself. It wasn't that bad, I could live with it. Rainbow would be fine with it as well since she's smelled me at much worse.

I stretched myself and flared out my wings. Shaking a little sleep out of my legs, I walked out into the hallway and towards the living room.

I checked the clock on the wall and found it to be around seven thirty.

"I'm up late." I said to myself.

"You bet your secondaries you are." Somepony said behind me, making me jump. I turned around to find Rainbow staring at me from behind her kitchen window that overlooked the living room. She was leaning on it as well.

She smiled. "Gotcha." She said.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I asked her, ignoring the scare.

"You looked really zonked out yesterday, so I thought it might be a good idea to let you sleep in. I was right. You look much better." She said. She never dropped that smile, except for those few seconds yesterday. It was too early in the morning to discuss it even by our standards, so it would have to wait.

"Well, thanks. It did help to be honest. So, where are we going for breakfast?" I asked her.

"Why don't we stay here? I've got food." She recommended.

"I know, but not much of it is good for just breakfast last time I checked." I told her, remembering what her fridge looked like last time I was here.

"I have breakfast stuff." She said indignantly while straightening up. I noticed that her wings weren't folded up onto her back like they usually were. It was rude to show other ponies the undersides of your wings when you weren't flying unless you were family or mates. Even she knew that.

"Your wings." I pointed out. She gave me a confused look. I pointed at them and she checked them.

With her cheeks turning a little purple, she closed them quickly.

"Anyways, if you got the stuff, we can try. But I don't really want to eat power bars for breakfast. If need be, I'll cook." I told her. I couldn't possibly imagine what she would have in her fridge or cupboards. She never cooked and was fairly bad at it. Although she would never admit it.

I made my way into the kitchen and looked in the fridge. Inside were some eggs and her other assorted nutritional food that was meant for calorie blasts before a workout.

I looked up at her over the door and found her smirking. She planned this, the clever mare.

"What was that about making breakfast? Be my guest. I like my eggs sunny side up." She said as she walked out of the kitchen, patting my back twice in the process. She had won this time, but I would get her back.

I grabbed the eggs and got to work. In twenty minutes, I had my breakfast and hers ready for the day. I put hers on a plate and placed my own scrambled eggs in a bowl. I looked for the forks but couldn't find them. She always seemed to have moved at least one thing in between my visits. I eventually found them and grabbed two.

"What do you want to drink?!" I called to her.

"Cider!" She called. She still had cider? Either way, she wasn't going to have any this early in the morning. If she wanted cider, she would have to wait until after her workout. Or else she would only do half of it.

I looked in the fridge once more and grabbed the milk. I poured two glasses. I unfurled my wings and scooped up the plates on top of them so I could carry them and the glasses in one trip.

Rainbow may be a little more agile with her wings, but I was more dexterous.

I brought everything out to the living room where Rainbow was reading one of her daring doo books. Ever since her friend Twilight had introduced them to her almost five years ago, she had been obsessed. She had even told me that she had met Daring Doo. I hadn't believed her until she showed me the book that had come out right after she had told me.

I placed the glasses down and then handed her, her plate. She frowned in annoyance at me when she noticed what drink I had brought her.

"You and I both know how you get when you drink cider. Not gonna happen until we're done with our workout." I told her.

She reluctantly took a sip of the milk, then took an actual gulp. She dug into her eggs next. I sat down and joined her. We ate in silence for about fifteen minutes.

The good and bad thing about being really old friends, is that you already know everything about each other. There was a good chance we knew each other better than ourselves, so there was never much to talk about; but I was glad I had a friend like her. Not many stallions could say they were good friends with a mare without having mated with them.

After we were done, I took our plates and glasses into the kitchen and rinsed them off. I left them in the sink to dry and went back out into the living room.

She was no where in sight though, so I started my stretches. Better to get them done before I started preening so I didn't have to do a check over later.

It took me a good few minutes, but I did all of them.

Next, I started checking over my feathers, starting with the secondaries. They were always the easiest for me except for the ones near the base of my wings. I would leave those ones, but they were some of the most important for being aerodynamic. They forced the wind to go up and over my wing bases instead of under them, causing less drag on my clothes.

However, today I just couldn't seem to reach them. For several more minutes I tried reaching them, turning myself around a few times in the process.

When I was about to give up, I felt them being shifted. I jumped a little bit, wondering what had done it.

I turned around to see Rainbow behind me, giving me a confused look.

"What, I was just trying to help you?" She explained.

"Warn me next time. It feels weird to have another pony touching my wings." I told her angrily. Trying to shake out the weird feeling in my secondaries.

She was out of it today. First, her open wings, then the cider, now this. You don't touch another pegasi's wings.

"Sorry." She said a little defensively.

I sighed. "I am too. I shouldn't be mad. You were just trying to help. It's just that I can't seem to reach them today." I explained. She just stared at me with a slight glare. Maybe coming here wasn't a great idea. If there was something bothering her, it was probably me at this point.

I tried once more, but this time I bent my wings at an awkward angle. It was very uncomfortable, and it hurt a little, but it was the only way I could reach them.

I managed to finish straightening them out then moved on to my primaries which were much easier.

I looked at the clock once more and noticed it was almost eight fifteen.

"We should get going." I told her. I finally noticed that she was in a sports top and bottom that hugged her body. I had never seen her wear something that revealing before. I could see up to mid thigh and I could also see her belly and shoulders. When she turned around, I noticed that there was a giant hole going from the small of her back to about her shoulder blades.

"What's with the outfit?" I asked her.

"What, this?" She asked, gesturing to her clothes. "It's my workout uniform." She explained.

"I've never seen you in it." I told her.

"That's because I got it after you had last visited."

"That would explain it." We walked out of the house and she took off. I quickly followed after her. Flying behind her, and with her in that outfit, I realized just how beautiful she would be to other pegasi stallions. Her sleak, slender, and tight body. Her powerful wings. And her mane.

I shook those thoughts out of my head. It felt weird to think about her that way. We flew up high into the sky so we could do what we wanted without being disturbed.

We started out with the basics. Up, down, left, right, hovering with weight, hovering backwards, the works.

It took us about an hour, but we did it. Then we moved on to the more advanced things.

We started looping together and corkscrewing, creating patterns in the sky with my red star flight-trail surrounding her rainbow one.

It always looked astounding the way we managed to do it. The light prisaming form her rainbow flight-trail and bouncing off of mine, making each color slightly more red.

We kept this up for about another two hours, creating different shapes and designs. We had discovered most of the combinations we could make years ago, so we had quite a few of them. There were probably a few we hadn't discovered, but those would be few and far between. And very difficult to pull off.

When we finished up the last one, I pointed towards a comfy looking cloud.

We flew down to it and landed. It felt good to sit down. I flared out my wings and wriggled them a little bit, making sure Rainbow was behind me so she could do the same without me looking at her.

"Did your wings get longer?" She asked me out of the blue.

I turned around to face her. Yet again, her wings weren't tucked away.

"One, not that I know of. Two, your wings. Again." I told her.

She didn't even blush this time, just pulled them in.

"Are you alright? You've been acting weird today. And yesterday as well." Now was as good a time as ever.

She crossed her arms and looked at me like I had crossed a line.

"What? You've been acting differently lately. I just want to know if you're okay." I told her. If something was bothering her, I wanted to know what.

I'd ask the obvious question, that somepony was bothering her or hurting her, but she was obviously unharmed. The outfit told me that much. And no pony would touch her or mess with her without getting a fist to the face. Or worse. So I didn't have a clue.

Her expression slackened a little bit.

"I'm fine." She said after a little while.

I was about to say something, but decided against it. If she didn't want to tell me, there was no way in Celestia that I would get her to talk. Didn't make me any less worried about her.

"Fine."

I put my arms behind my head and laid it back on the cloud.

"So when are you leaving?" She asked me. Did she sound...sad?

Maybe. "Do you not want me to leave yet?" I asked her, raising my eyebrow.

She looked taken-aback.

"You can leave for all I care." She said. She turned her head away from me and had a deep set scowl.

I just chuckled.

"Sunday good?" I asked her while laying my head back down and closing my eyes.

I waited for her response.

"Yeah." She said quietly.

"Alright. I'll need some more clothes though. I can't spend more days in this stuff. And I am NOT walking around your house naked." I told her.

She didn't say anything for a good minute.

"I guess you don't have any bits on you?" She asked me.

"Only enough for the train ticket home." I answered.

She hmphed and I could just see her throwing her hands up.

"Fine. We can go on Friday." She told me.

"Friday? Why not tomorrow? I can't smell too great to you." I opened my eyes and looked at her.

For a split second I saw her wings half extended. She retracted them before I could get a good look and actually make sure.

I cocked an eyebrow and she gave me a scowl in response. Jeez, she was testy today.

"I won't get my paycheck until friday. And I don't have enough bits to buy you a full outfit." She told me.

"Oh, well alright."

"Although, I could just wash your clothes while you're in the shower." She said.

"I couldn't imagine how disturbing it would be for you to wash a stallions dirty boxers, and I take five minute showers." I told her.

"Good point." She responded.

I looked up at the sun and thought it was about one.

"Want to get something to eat?" I asked her.

"Sure. Let's go to the hay bucket." She suggested.

"Didn't you just tell me you were basically broke?" I reminded her.

"Fine. Let's go back to my place." She said. That phrase brought back some memories.

It felt weird to hear her say that since I'd heard it from many a mare back home. I shook it out of my head. I couldn't wait for this day to end. I could only take so much.

We leaped off the cloud into a nose dive. We were about thirty feet from the ground when we pulled up. We were a little too close on the dive and almost crashed into each other when our wingtips slapped against each other, throwing both of us off balance, but we managed to get ahold of ourselves.

We soared over the field we were in and a few minutes later, were back at her house.

We walked in and I closed the door behind us. I threw my jumper onto the couch so I could cool off.

"Do you want to make lunch this time?" I asked her.

She looked at me with an 'are you serious' face.

"Gotcha." I said. I walked into the kitchen to get started.

"I'm taking a shower!" I heard her call.

"Alright!"

I set to work.

I looked through her cupboards for some bread, eventually finding some stashed away in the back of one.

"Dear Celestia, she really needs to look through these cupboards."

I checked it over for mold, but didn't find any.

I checked the fridge and found some peanut butter that I could use. Why she kept it in the fridge was a mystery to me.

I searched the rest of the kitchen but couldn't find anything useful.

I got to work, microwaving the peanut butter first. In about five minutes, I was done with both sandwhiches and had two more glasses of milk ready for us.

I brought them out to the living room and set them down.

I could still hear the water running so I walked up to the door. I was about to knock when it opened.

In front of me was a nude Rainbow. We stared at each for a second before I noticed that the faucet was on. Next thing I knew, my nose hurt, I was on my butt and leaning against the wall, and the door was closed.

I brought my hand up to rub my nose. It came away bloody.

"Great, now I have Rainbow seared into my mind and a bloody nose." I complained to myself.

"Get away from the door!" I heard her scream at me.

I quickly scrambled away from the door and around the corner, trying to keep the blood from spilling out and ruining the clouds.

I went to the kitchen and grabbed some paper towel. I put it up to my nose and held my head back. All I could taste was blood. The towel soaked through rather quickly, so I had to grab another. It was a few minutes before Rainbow came around the corner.

She took one look at me and scoffed. "Serves you right."

"Why did you open the door naked in the first place?" I asked her. I was a little ticked.

"I forgot my panties in my room and needed to get them. I thought you were still in the kitchen." She explained.

I felt the blood soak through another towel. I grabbed a new one and quickly replaced them. I threw the dirty one away.

She noticed all the blood and walked over, checking the trash then looking back at me.

"Here, let me see." She said.

"I don't want it getting everywhere." I told her.

"I don't care about that, just let me see it." She demanded.

I slowly took the paper towel away, keeping it near my chin just in case a surge happened or I accidentally tilted my head the wrong way.

She brought her hand up and touched it, making me wince.

"It doesn't look too bad. You won't need stitches which is good."

"Yeah, fantastic." I sarcastically remarked.

She sighed. "Sorry."

I was surprised to say the least. I had only ever heard her apologize twice before. Once when she had accidentally broken my wing, and the other when she had destroyed my favorite ring.

"It's fine." I told her. I wasn't nearly as mad as the ring incident.

"Let's hope it stops soon so I can clean it. You won't need stitches, but there is a little gash. I guess you didn't know about the blood running down your cheeks and soaking your shirt collar." She laughed.

I groaned. "Well this shirt is ruined. At least I have my jumper." I was glad I had taken it off before hand. I really liked that thing.

"Come on, let's get you to the bathroom." She guided me towards the bathroom and sat me down on the toilet. Her bathtub was right next to it so she sat down on the edge of that after she grabbed her first aid kit.

When my nose finally stopped bleeding about five minutes later, she started cleaning off the blood with water.

"So how much did you see?" She asked me. She held a cloth up to the antiseptic and tipped it over then back.

"I'll be honest, everything." She smashed the antiseptic cloth on to my nose.

"Aghhaha!" That stung like a hoover!

She wiped off the remaining blood and started cleaning the gash.

"I'm sorry, but I did." To be honest, she was pretty hot. But there was no way in Celestia I was going to tell her that. It would just cause me more pain and inflate her ego.

The conversation ended after that.

When she was done, I took off my shirt and cleaned the dried blood off my collar bone and neck while she left to go to the living room. The blood had made a big splotch on the shirt so it really was ruined. Great.

I walked out into the living room and found her enjoying her sandwhich.

I sat down and started on mine. She took one look at me then turned her head to the opposite wall.

I caught myself many times looking at her while we ate. I was sure she was mad at me. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to stay till Sunday.

After we were done, I brought it up.

"I think I should leave tomorrow." I told her. She looked at me for the first time in the past fifteen minutes.

"Why?" She asked me.

"You're mad at me, I have no shirt till Friday, and you're basically broke till then. I think it would just be a good idea to leave before anything else happens and I run you into the ground." I explained to her.

"Fine." She stood up and walked angrily towards her room. I sighed. I was also pretty sure the heat was soon for ponyville and I had no idea if Rainbow had adopted it yet. So I didn't want to be caught up with that. Rainbow's first adult stallionfriend had been caught in her wake and he was never the same.

I leaned back and pushed my hands through my mane. I really didn't want to leave with her mad at me, but I also didn't think it was a good idea for me to stay. She seemed a lot different during this visit. Maybe something was troubling her, maybe we were growing apart. Either way, it wouldn't do any good for me to be here. I couldn't fix any problem she had. She wouldn't let me.

Maybe it would be best for both of us if I left right now. Save her the anger of seeing me again.

I looked at the clock and saw it was almost quarter past two. I could still catch the three o'clock if I hurried. I stood up and went to the kitchen. I grabbed a pencil out of a miscellaneous drawer and wrote down what I was doing on a post-it note I had found in there as well.

I put it on the table in the living room and grabbed my shirt and jumper, putting on my jumper while I walked out the door.

I closed the door behind me and took off, flying through the sky towards the train station.

I landed about fifteen minutes later.

I walked up to the ticket booth and asked for the three o'clock to cloudsdale. The ticket vendor took my bits and offered me a ticket after counting them up.

I walked over to a bench and sat down. I had my bloodied shirt stuffed in one of my jumper pockets, glad that I wasn't a huge earth stallion.

I waited about ten minutes before the train pulled up. The train would be leaving sometime in the next fifteen minutes so I waited, not really wanting to get on the train. I felt terrible for just leaving her like that, but she had been mad at me quite a bit today. I had also seen her naked. That couldn't be good for our friendship. Especially when I couldn't stop thinking about it.

After five minutes of delaying, I decided to get on. As I was climbing on board, I felt something grap the back of jumper and pull me back down the steps. I stumbled a little bit and regained my balance.

I looked around for the pony who did it, ready to pick a fight. My anger drained away when I saw Rainbow standing in front of me. Her eyes looked a little red and she looked royally pissed.

"What's this?" She asked me, holding up my note. My mind wouldn't work so I couldn't answer.

"What's this!?" She yelled, drawing someponies attention.

She pushed the note into my chest. "So you were going to leave. Just like that." She snapped her fingers to emphasize her point. I tried to say something, anything; but nothing came.

"Just because you thought I was a little mad at you? What's wrong with you?! We're friends, Thunder! If we have problems with each other we talk them out, not abandon each other just because one of us is a little mad." She chewed me out.

I finally found my words. "_Would_ you have talked them out? Or would you have ignored me because I wasn't important enough to sift through the problems with, and shut me out like you always do." I didn't mean for it to come out so angry, or where it had come from.

She looked a little hurt. "If that's how you feel, then fine." Before I could say anything else, she flew off. I looked around and noticed ponies had been staring at us. I glared at them and they turned away.

I was conflicted. Leave. Or go after her. It was now or never. The train would be leaving in the next few minutes or so.

I couldn't leave her like that. It would make things worse, or end our friendship completely.

I took off into the sky, racing as fast as I could after her.

I caught up with her but didn't manage to say anything before she rocketed off.

I tried following her, but she was too fast. She raced into her house and closed the door behind her. I slammed into it, thinking I could have made it.

"Rainbow, please!" I called to her while banging on the door.

"I'm sorry, we can talk about it!" I pleaded with her.

I didn't hear anything back. I tried calling again and again with no response.

Eventually, she told me to go away. Had that comment really hurt her that much? But why?

I didn't listen to her. I kept calling for her. Eventually, she opened the door and chased me away, or at least tried to.

I didn't run and she pounded her fists into me. She eventually pushed me off her landing and I went into free fall. I spread my wings out and glided. I flapped back up to her landing and saw that she was back inside her house.

I sighed and flew up to a nearby cloud. I looked at the sun and saw it was around four thirty. The train was long gone. For the rest of the day, I kept my mind working on how I would get Rainbow to talk to me. I thought until I passed out around eleven at night.

* * *

**A/N: To be honest, I thought I was getting tired of writing stories. Nope. Just tired of writing about Light Weight and Fluttershy. For those of you have read all of my stories, a note: I may start writing The Human's Journey's second arc along with this story, just to keep the blood pumping. I have the entire plot of the second arc done so I can start that at any point. I guess Thursday is this stories update day. If I remember. See ya on the flip side.**


	3. Chapter 3

**May 4th (Thursday)**

**BOOM**

I shot up instantly, scared out of my wits.

"What was that?" I asked myself. I looked around for the source and noticed the clouds around me were a dark grey.

"Uh-oh." This was bad. I had fallen asleep on a latent storm cloud. The explosion had been a thunderclap right next to me.

Before I panicked completely, I took a deep breath and focused on my heart. After a few minutes, I remembered back to my weather safety courses.

I wasn't in any immediate danger, being a pegasus on a cloud. The electricity would just go through me and into the cloud. It would hurt, but it wouldn't be lethal unless it struck my head first. Being in the air however, was a different story. It could instantly kill me since there was no place for the electricity to go to after it hit me. At least, that's what I was taught in weather safety.

My safest option right now would be to lay flat on the cloud with an arm or a leg in the air so the lightning would have to go through that instead of my head if it did strike me.

It would be an hour or two at the least, before the storm calmed down. Although, this was a fairly weird storm. It was rare for a pony-made weather system like this one to have lightning and thunder, but no rain.

I didn't have much time to think about it since another thunderclap scared the living manure out of me.

After a minute or so, it started to rain. I was instantly soaked along with being tired. I couldn't see the sun or moon so I couldn't tell what time it was, just that it was really early morning.

This was going to get boring. Suddenly, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I looked around for about half a minute, trying to find what was causing it.

"Agh!" I screamed as a bolt struck my outstretched hand. It felt like somepony had just stuck it into boiling water. Then it felt numb, and my brain felt like it was scrambled from the pain. I could feel the electricity traveling down my arm and through my shoulder, into the cloud.

It took a few moments for my brain to work right again. "I am NOT looking forward to that." I complained to myself, my tongue dry. But I had been stupid to sleep on a cloud in the first place. A lot of pegasi did it, but that was during the day.

"Ow." I said, clenching and unclenching my hand.

"Thunder." I heard somepony yell. They were far off and I couldn't hear what they were saying.

Why were they out here? I was pretty sure I was really high up, so only a pegasus would be up here. But every pegasus knows not to go into a storm. It didn't make any sense. But I wasn't going to risk myself to warn them. They were in here of their own free will. If they were struck by lightning, it was their fault.

The rain was really starting to kick up now, strong winds were also appearing as well.

Ponyville's pegasi had really gone all out with this storm.

"Thunder!" It sounded much closer now. Please no.

"Thunder!" She wasn't dumb. She was smart. She wouldn't be here!

"Thunder!" It was really close now.

I shot to my hooves and looked over the edge of the cloud.

I saw Rainbow about twenty five feet below me, flying through the storm.

Without warning, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. No.

I looked around for the discharging cloud, but couldn't find it above me. I realized with terror that it was the cloud I was on.

"Rainbow!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

She looked around, then up. Before she could say anything back, the cloud discharged. Lightning arced from my cloud to Rainbow.

I heard her scream something halfway between a strangled monster roar and a scream of sheer pain.

She started falling, smoke trailing from her as she fell.

Without a second thought, I leaped off the cloud and nose dived.

I pushed myself as hard as I could, flapping my wings for everything they were worth, but she was still far ahead of me.

If she hit the ground unconscious like that...

I didn't want to think about it.

The ground was coming up fast. I had to get to her.

I pushed myself harder. I could feel my wings burning with pain and heat.

Just a little closer.

I reached out my hand and grabbed her ankle.

With all my strength, I pulled her towards me. I snapped my wings fully open and felt air crash into them.

We were going fast. To fast to glide. To fast to stop.

I could feel the wind tearing feathers away. My back muscles were the only things keeping my wings on my back, but they would give out soon.

The ground was coming up fast.

Fifty feet.

Forty feet.

Thirty.

Twenty.

In a last ditch effort, I tilted one wing, sending myself into a violent spin.

At the last second, I released Rainbow, throwing her as hard as I could toward the sky, hopefully slowing her down at least a little bit.

I collided with the ground and blacked out.

* * *

**A/N: Wow. This chapter is short. Oops. Oh well. Compounded with that, the next chapter might be a little late and the one after that even more so. I've had the busiest week of my life this week and haven't had anytime where I felt like writing. Each day, I'd get home from school, stay for about half an hour at most, then leave and get home at six. It sucks. It's going to be like that the next few weeks while I learn how to operate a half ton death machine on wheels, so the chapters might start getting a bit 'sporadic' until I'm done. Unless I hit a dash of creativity. Then who knows! Anyways, see ya on the flip side.**


	4. Chapter 4

**May 18th (Thursday)**

"AGGGGHHHH!" I woke up screaming from a nightmare. It had been about Rainbow and I falling to our deaths after being struck by lightning.

It took me a second to realize where I was: a hospital room.

"No." I whispered to myself.

I looked around for the nurse button and found it to my right. I slammed my fist on it, desperate to figure out if my dream was real.

A few moments later, or what felt like hours to me, a nurse came in. She was an earth pony with a pink mane and a white complexion.

"It's good that you are finally awake. Your name is Thunder Map, yes?" She asked me.

"Clap." I corrected her.

"Sorry, the only pony that we could find who could even recognize you couldn't remember very well." She explained. Pinkie. It could only have been her.

"Why am I in here?" I asked her.

She bent down to get into a cabinet before answering. "The ponies who found you think that you fell out of the storm that happened almost two weeks ago." She explained.

She was about to say something else, but I didn't hear it. I had already ripped the IV out of my arm and ran out the door in the patient's dress.

I ran through the corridoors trying to find Rainbow's room. I kept passing patients and staff who gave me weird looks.

I didn't care, I had to find Rainbow.

It felt like forever before I stumbled onto her room.

Sitting in it with her, was a pegasus mare and the biggest stallion I had ever seen.

I hesitated at first, scared of the stallion, but eventually worked up my nerve and went inside. I walked over to the bed, ignoring the other two.

"Rainbow. Rainbow, wake up." I told her. She wasn't hooked up to an IV and I couldn't see anything wrong with her, but she was covered from the neck down by a blanket, so I couldn't see much of her anyways.

"Dash is not feeling well. You should let her sleep." A deep voice told me.

I looked up to see the pegasus and earth stallion looking at me. As I looked at them, I noticed the pegasus had a crutch near her, and that they were fairly close to each other, like they were a couple.

"Are you two some of Rainbow's friends." I asked them while looking back down at her.

"Yes, we are." The mare said. She was quite.

"Is she alright?" I asked them. I couldn't take my eyes off her. I felt guilty, angry, sad, and uncertain. I had caused this.

"She is fine. She is just resting." The stallion told me.

"Are you the one they found with her?" The mare asked me.

I just nodded.

"You have been out for almost two weeks. Dash woke up a few days ago." The stallion told me.

I sighed. There was nothing I could do for her right now. I pulled up a chair next to her bed and sat down.

"You should eat something." The mare suggested.

"I'm fine." I waved off her concern.

And so I waited. And waited. It felt like an eternity had passed before Rainbow woke up.

She turned her head towards her friends before she noticed me.

"Morning guys." She said sleepily.

She sat up in bed and stretched. I noticed her bandaged wing and my guilt surged.

The stallion looked at me and Rainbow turned her head.

Before she could say anything, I stood up and hugged her. Albeit, a bit awkwardly.

"I'm so sorry for what happened." I apologized. I knew it wouldn't make up for what I did, but it was a start at least.

Rainbow seemed startled. She pushed me away and I lost my balance, flopping into the chair.

She had a look of pain on her face.

"Did I hurt you?" I asked, standing up again.

"No, it's just... you've never hugged me before." She said.

"Oh, that. Sorry, it's just that I was excited to see that you were mostly okay." I explained to her.

She looked behind her towards her wing and laughed. "This? This is nothing. I'll be out of here in a week." She boasted. I couldn't help but smile. She was okay. For the most part.

When I was content that she was okay, my own body started to become really sore. My hands and wings clenched up, and my muscles felt like lead.

I flopped back down on the chair and heaved a sigh.

"Did you just come out of your coma?" She asked me as a joke.

"Yes." I told her. She seemed to pale a little bit at my answer.

"You shouldn't be here then. You should be back in your room, resting." She ordered me.

"I had to see you first." I explained. Did she just blush a little? No, I was just too exhausted to see clearly.

"Do you want me to call a nurse for him, Rainbow Dash?" The mare asked.

"I think that would be a good idea, Fluttershy." She answered.

Fluttershy pressed a button that was right next to her and a few moments later, a nurse came in.

"So that's were you got off to." The nurse said once she took me in.

Apparently, this hospital didn't have many nurses to spare.

She helped me stand up, and along with the stallions help, started walking me back to my room.

"Sorry I ran off, I just had to-" I started.

"To see your marefriend?" She finished.

I was startled. "No, she isn't my marefriend. Just a really old _friend_." I emphasized.

"Could of fooled me." She responded. She turned and smiled at me.

"Dash is lonely. I can see it in her eyes." The stallion said.

I was surprised he picked up on her feelings. Rainbow wasn't easy to read when she wasn't in an extreme.

I looked down at the floor, remembering the stallions Rainbow had had over the years that I knew of. The way the stallion said it, conjured pictures for me.

There was Sprinkle Cake when she was sixteen. They had been a cute couple and had been together almost two years before he had to leave for some unforseen reason.

Next was Apple Orchard. He was Rainbow's first adult stallion. They had met when they were both twenty. During the first heat that they had been together, she told me they had mated. I was glad for her. She had finally experienced the magic behind it, just as I had a few years before her.

Third was Cinnamon. I never knew his last name, only that it hadn't ended well. He had begun with Rainbow, then had collected four other mares for a herd. Then he left her, simple as that. I had had to comfort her for three whole days before she pulled herself together. I'd hated that stallion ever since.

The latest, Creme'd Patty, had been with Rainbow when she was twenty-six. They had a steady relationship going before something happened that she wouldn't even let me bring up in passing comments. I didn't know what had happened between them, but it must have been pretty bad. She hadn't talked to anypony in a week after they broke up.

Since then, she hasn't been with anypony else seriously. Well, as far as I knew. So it would make sense that she was lonely. However, Rainbow didn't dwell on things. Especially her own emotions; so she would have had to have been reminded about it for the stallion to pick up on it. And it was unlikely that he would just bring it up out of the blue.

So what had reminded her?

I racked my brain while I was hobbled to my room. The stallion helped me get comfortable in my bed while the nurse fetched some food for me.

The stallion stayed for a bit then left, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't think of anything that would remind her of being lonely, other than Fluttershy and the stallion; but, she wouldn't really want to be around them if it made her lonely whenever she saw them together, and she looked absolutely fine and happy when she woke up. It didn't make any sense. Was there something simple I was missing?

My thoughts were interrupted by the nurse walking in. In her hands, was a tray with some breakfast looking food on it.

I didn't pay much attention to it or the drink as I consumed them. There was a lot of food, so I felt pretty full when I was done.

The nurse took the eating utensils and tray, and left.

Once more, I set my mind on the problem. Why I was so focused and adamant about solving it was a mystery to me. Great, now I had two problems: why would Dash feel lonely around me and her friends; and two, why was I so hooked on the first problem?

My head felt like it was going to explode with frustration. I eventually passed out.

* * *

**A/N: Everyone who is following this story is not going to like me haha. I'm done writing it. This is the second to last chapter. As is the standard now, this will be the last A/N of the story, letting you guys finish out the story without having to listen to me babble. And once again, my own little stupid quote that I made up, will be at the end. I hope you all enjoyed the story, as short as it is, but it felt like the right time to end it. I always knew that the story would end with what it ended on, it just came sooner than I had expected (or planned). There was quite a lot that I had planned for this story that just never came to be. So this marks the second time ever where I had ideas in my head for a story yet they were never implemented. Oh well. See ya on the flip side.**  
**P.S. I will be taking a break off of writing since I have a REALLY busy schedule for the next few weeks. I'll probably begin posting again sometime after school is over or maybe a little before.**


	5. Chapter 5

**May 19th (Friday)**

I woke up to a throbbing head and aching back. I shifted around and found that there was a wrapping around my chest and stomach, and around my head. Either somepony had put them on me while I was asleep, or I hadn't noticed them yesterday. Either way, they were annoying.

I looked up at the ceiling, trying to remember what I had been doing before I passed out. I racked my brain until I remembered: Rainbow.

Yet again, I thought about it until my head exploded from sheer impatience. I wanted to know, needed to know. I was also hoping that once I found out, I could figure out why I was so obsessed. This wasn't how normal friends worried about each other. This was how obsessive and crazy ponies worried about somepony. Non-stop.

But then, that's also how ponies in love thought. But that was preposterous. Me? In love with Rainbow? Ridiculous. We were really old, really good friends. We were like brother and sister we were so close.

Yet, it was the only explanation for both problems that made any sense, and where I wasn't a creep and Rainbow wasn't melodramatic.

I needed to stop. For one, it wasn't true. Rainbow didn't love me like that. And I didn't love her like that. At least, I was pretty sure I didn't. And two, I would go crazy before I figured it out; and if I did figure it out, how would I know that I had?

I tried thinking about other things like my job, some new tricks I had been working on, anything to get my mind off of Rainbow. Yet, after an hour or two of trying, nothing worked.

I resolved to get to the bottom of it, one way or another.

I swung my legs around and off the bed. My head swam, but I forced it down. When I stood up, there was a sharp pain right where one of my upper ribs would be, along with my head threatening to black out on me. How I had made it to Rainbow's room the first time unaided, I will never know.

I took a few shaky steps, then a few, more solid ones. I opened the door once I was sure I wouldn't pass out. I then started walking the halls, remembering the route I took last time, fighting unconsciousness the whole time.

I eventually came upon her door. I looked in the window to see that it was empty besides Rainbow in her bed reading a book.

I knocked, then opened the door without waiting for permission.

"Thunder? What are you doing here?" She got up out of the bed and went over to me.

"You should get back to bed. You look even more pale than usual." She pointed out.

"I need to know." I told her without explaining.

She had a look of confusion. "Know what?"

"The stallion said you were lonely. I want to know why." I said.

The look of confusion lasted for a second, then was replaced by one of hurt which was quickly followed by one of hardness.

"I'm not lonely." She stated. She put all of her force into it that she could muster. There was no bravado, no confidence. She said it like it was a cold, hard fact.

"You're lying." I pointed out.

"You can't prove that. Now go away." She told me, turning around in the process.

I caught the sway of her hips as she walked along, mesmerized by them. I gave myself a little slap before noticing that she had a slight smirk on her face that quickly faded.

Was she playing with me? Taunting me to take the bait? All that courage, all that toughness, could just be reduced to nothing when it came to a pony that she liked? It was ridiculous and stupid to think like that. Rainbow was the toughest pony I had ever known. She wouldn't be bowed by some crush or puppy love. She would go for it if she wanted it.

But... was it me that she liked, or somepony else? That was the question.

I almost instantaneously ran through a cause and effect logic chart in my head, the way they taught us at weather school.

She likes somepony, that much was clear to me now. Yet I didn't know who. Or, at the very least, why. Something had to draw her to him. She wouldn't get attracted to somepony out of the blue.

The only thing to do now, was to figure out who. Then I could figure out the why. And if she wouldn't do anything about it, then I would. I wanted to see her happy.

"You're right, I can't. Not completely. But I still want to know." I told her, giving in to her.

She climbed into the bed and looked like she was conflicted, but only for a second. She pointed to one of the chairs near her bed and I sat down.

She didn't say anything. Alright, so it was up to me to do this.

"It has to be somepony. All the signs point to it. The stallion from before picked up on it, and I can read it in your body language. You're acting alluringly for somepony." I could play her head games. And I would win for once.

In response, she gave me an 'are you serious' look of disbelief.

"What? I know I'm right." I pointed out.

She face palmed.

She took a second, then appeared to look at something on the floor, with a somber expression.

"Thunder... I want you to think about how I've been acting lately, and how... especially how I've been acting around you. You're a smart pony." She looked me in the eyes. "Put the pieces together." She told me out of left field.

That was far more direct than I had expected from her. Whenever we had these little contests of brains and willpower, she could keep me running in circles for hours if she wanted to. Now, she handed me the answer on a silver platter. Yet I still didn't know what it was.

Think Thunder, think.

First, it was the wings. Then, it was the cider. Next came the bathroom incident and the third ever 'I'm sorry' from her. Afterwards, was our fight at the train station. Where I hurt her. What came next was the thunder storm, where she had been looking for me within it, against all pegasus logic. And finally, the hug.

Well, the cider was out since it didn't have anything to do with anything other than her having an addiction.

The more I thought about, the more I noticed a pattern.

I was the one who fought with her. It was me.

I was the one she showed her wings to. Me.

She was hurt by my leaving her alone. Me.

She had blushed after I hugged her. Me.

Me.

...

Me?

I looked at her with a look of understanding. She turned away with one of shame.

"Me?" I asked to make sure. She nodded.

She turned her whole upper body away from me.

Me. She loved me.

I stood up and walked over to her.

When I saw her face, I was shocked. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and she looked like the picture of pure shame. I was beyond confused. Why was she the one who felt ashamed? She hadn't done anything wrong.

"How long?" I managed to get out.

After a few minutes, she answered in a whisper. "A few years."

"You've loved me that long and never bothered to say anything?" I asked her. I felt guilty inside. I had made her suffer while I went out on dates and rutted other mares, essentially right under her nose.

"I knew you wouldn't like me like that, back." She told me.

"Rainbow, I've loved you for a long time too. Although it was platonic at first, it eventually turned into something more. And I'll be honest... I'm glad it did. I just hadn't noticed it until yesterday."

I took a shaky breath to steel my nerves for what I was about to do. I leaned down to her and put my finger under her chin. I brought her face up to my level.

I moved forward and planted a kiss on her lips.

She tensed up before leaning into it. It was an awkward kiss, but it was the best one of my life. For once, I felt something when I kissed a mare. Some strong urge to do it again, even though I already was.

I was finally happy. Dear Celestia I was happy.

* * *

**Exploration is the root of curiosity; and without either, no new friendships would ever be made. So go out, go make friends. Because true friends, true, great friends will always be by your side, whether you want them to or not.**


End file.
